Food: Innovations in Agricultural Production

So, great strides are being taken in the struggle to help provide clean water to people all across the globe. But what about food production? One way to combat hunger and famine is to grow better crops. Here’s an example:

In 1944, Norman Borlaug, a biologist and plant pathologist, “left the U.S. for Mexico to fight stem rust, a fungus that infects wheat, at the invitation of the Rockefeller Foundation, among others. He and his colleagues spent the next decade crossing thousands of strains of wheat from across the globe, ultimately developing a high-yielding, disease resistant variety. Unfortunately, it couldn't stand, heavy with grain. “ Scientific American

Borlaug had worked for years to develop a strain of wheat that resisted disease and produced much grain, but it was so heavy that it couldn’t stand. So, he crossed the wheat again with a strain of Japanese dwarf wheat, producing a semi-dwarf wheat that produced large amounts of grain, was disease-resistant, and was short enough that it didn’t fall over. First, this wheat helped Mexico become self-sufficient in grain, and then it was taken to India and Pakistan, where it helped save millions from famine. Borlaug was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1970 and is often credited with saving a billion lives from starvation. Because of his achievements to prevent hunger, famine and misery around the world, it is said that Dr. Borlaug has "saved more lives than any other person who has ever lived." World Food Prize

Borlaug’s work with wheat plants was crucial. Wheat provides approximately one-fifth of the total calories consumed globally, so how do we continue to increase production of this essential crop? Plant scientists are still working on this question, and some researchers in the UK have produced a “superwheat” which is ready to begin field trials. Plants use carbon dioxide from the air to make food. These new wheat plants actually use carbon dioxide even better, and increase the efficiency of photosynthesis. These super-efficient wheat plants are predicted to boost a wheat harvest by 20 to 40 percent. Next Big Future and New Scientist

Innovation in agriculture is key to global development and global health.“Here’s what we know. We need agriculture that not only produces more food, but also does so on less land with less degradation of our natural resources. The future of agricultural innovation must give us food, biodiversity, and all of the other services that ecosystems provide like clean water, soil nutrients, and fresh air.”Impatient Optimists: Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation

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